and in the process of time the name was extended to the entire body.

* * * * *




CHAPTER V.

THE ROMAN TENURE OF LAND--COLONIAL GOVERNMENT.

Each rules his race, his neighbour not his care,
Heedless of others, to his own severe.--_Homer_.

[As this chapter is principally designed for advanced students, it has
not been thought necessary to add questions for examination.]

The contests respecting agrarian laws occupy so large a space in Roman
history, and are so liable to be misunderstood, that it is necessary
to explain their origin at some length. According to an almost
universal custom, the right of conquest was supposed to involve the
property of the land. Thus the Normans who assisted William I. were
supposed to have obtained a right to the possessions of the Saxons;
and in a later age, the Irish princes, whose estates were not
confirmed by a direct grant from the English crown, were exposed to
forfeiture when legally summoned to prove their titles. The extensive
acquisitions made by the Romans, were either formed into extensive
national domains, or divided into small lots among the poorer classes.
The usufruct of the domains was monopolized by the patricians who
rented them from the state; the smaller lots were assigned to the